Student protest: Coordinators refuse to hold talks with govt

C T Online Desk: The coordinators of Anti-Discrimination Student Movement have rejected any potential proposal from the government to sit for discussions to resolve the ongoing unrest in the country.

The government and the Awami League expressed willingness to sit for discussions to resolve the situation.

Nahid Islam, one of the main coordinators of the movement, rejected the government’s proposal, said that there is no longer an opportunity to seek justice from the government or to engage in dialogue.

On Saturday at noon, Nahid announced this through a post on his Facebook profile. The post was shared by co-coordinator Rifat Rashid. Another coordinator, Asif Mahmud, also made a post on social media rejecting the dialogue.

Abu Baker Majumdar, another coordinator, told Prothom Alo on Saturday: “There is no opportunity for discussion now. The decision will come from the streets.”

The Awami League leaders assigned to the task are presidium member Jahangir Kabir Nanak and joint general secretaries AFM Bahauddin Nasim and Mahbubul Alam Hanif.

Party sources also revealed that Workers Party of Bangladesh President Rashed Khan Menon and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSad) President Hasanul Haque Inu have been requested to participate in the discussions.

In his post, Nahid said that the students and citizens would not accept any state of emergency or curfew. If a peaceful situation is desired, orders to shoot and attack must be stopped. The directives of the non-cooperation movement must be followed. There is no longer an opportunity to seek justice or sit for dialogue with a killer government. The time for forgiveness has also passed. When there was time, the government conducted block raids, arrested students, and tortured them. They will not engage in any kind of compromise while political prisoners like Akhtar Hossain and Arif Sohel are in jail.

In his post, Asif Mahmud wrote that the coordinators are not willing to sit for any dialogue with a killer government, let alone engage in discussions with the political party Awami League.